The Secret Breath: Unlocking Stress Relief and Balance
The more the world as we know it seems to fall apart, the more focusing on things we actually can control brings peace of mind. Breathing is one of those daily acts that has a huge impact on stress reduction. So does sighing. Who’d of thought? Can sighing help us keep our balance?
Have you ever paid attention to your sighs? These long, deep breaths we often associate with sadness, exhaustion or relief, actually occur spontaneously an average of every five minutes.
What a perfect reminder of how phenomenal the body is. This life-sustaining reflex keeps the lung’s 500 million alveoli, or air sacs, from collapsing.
And, triggered by a small cluster of nerve cells, sighing activates a relaxation response.
This is where my biohacker awe sets in—here is yet another incredible mechanism the body has in place to maintain a balance.
Stress Reduction 101
Defined as “a variant breath type,” a sigh has two to five times the volume of a normal breath. We do it naturally, and it induces homeostasis—that essential state of steady internal, physical, and chemical conditions that enable optimal functioning.
Sighing helps the body regulate CO2 and oxygen levels, both of which play key roles in emotions, cognitive abilities, and memory.
The body sighs more often when stressed, helping the it return to regular breathing patterns. Sighs both express stress and induce relief.
Furthermore, sighs flip an alertness switch in the brain and seem to play a role in triggering an arousal process.
Emotional Balance and Stress Relief
Research supports that sighing regulates both stress and emotions. We use them liberally to communicate the full spectrum of emotions, from sadness to surprise, frustration to solace.
In a word, sighing reboots our emotions and our physiology.
Learning from Our Sighs to Manage Stress
A sigh is non-voluntary, regulated by a mere 400 neurones in the brainstem. The average person has a sigh rate of 12 times an hour. Any more than that signals either too much stress or perhaps some other imbalance—that means if excessive sighing persists, you should look into the causes.
Researchers have found that both instructions to take a deep breath and spontaneous sighing reduce body tension and relieve stress. So, we can imitate sighing as a breathing pattern and use it to reset.
Hitting the Reset Button
A sigh starts with first inspiration that is normal, followed by a second larger inspiration, and then an exhale, which does not have to be loud. It is often followed by a pause.
So, take a deep breath, and pause.
“Sometimes,
I doubt the courage
My bones are made of
And then,
A breath finds her way in
And her way out
The half-way-almost-full moon
Smiles down;
My heart sighs
And quietly whispers:
I remember.”